The most wonderful time of the year!!!!

June Calendar quilt

This time of year has always been my favorite. The "triple H" weather we are having already this year isn't, but I digress.  I just love that the flowers are blooming, the birds are nesting and the babies will be hatching soon, and the nights are still cool but the days are warm enough to be out enjoying the beauty all around!
I haven't been sewing much since the weeds are also enjoying this time of year.  But I did get this piece done in time- from Kim Schaefer's book.

I never have snapdragons this early, but aren't they lovely?

I am spending lots of time outside thanks to all the weeding and maintenance in the gardens.  Gardening is a lot like housework- it's never done!  But you get to be outside while you do it!

The first and only bloom on my Wisteria!

Surprise!

 A while back when I thinned and moved some iris bulbs, I had extras that I tossed out in the filed.  Imagine my delight when I discovered this hiding amongst the goldenrod!

My "happy place"

A busy little bee on the Salvia

When it gets hot outside, my goal is always to keep my house cool for as long as possible without the air conditioner!  I don't have much shade around my house to work with, so I rely on nature's AC at night and keeping the hot air out in the daytime.  Simple things like light reflecting window shades and well placed fans can make all the difference.   There are some great "green" tips for cooling your house and saving money here!

I am grateful for:
Hotdogs on the grill.
Cool and cloudy mornings
An Opportunity to learn something new!
Movies on dvd
On Memorial Day especially- the fallen and their families, who have given so much to the rest of us.

A mushroom story, and class with Mary Diamond

 When I was a little girl, my Grampa told me that if I would sit very quietly in the evening before the dew fell, I could watch the fairies play under the toadstools in the back yard of their house.  I spent many an hour waiting for them to appear- and stayed out if his hair in the process.  (wasn't I a gullible child?)

      So when I created my perennial bed, I had a thought in the back of my mind to find a big toadstool of some kind and  some fairies to play under it.    I have finally done it.  The mushroom/ toadstool (I wonder if there's a difference?) is made from an old version of our satellite dish and a length of chimney tile.  The top is the  non-woven "utility" fabric they sell at Joann.  I stitched a few layers together in the hope it will survive more than one summer out there. 

 The Museum Quilt Guild welcomed Mary Diamond to our meeting on Saturday! What beautiful work she does!!!  I had seen a couple of her pieces previously in  Lancaster, but I got to hold them and inspect them up close this time!






After the meeting, some of us stayed for a thread painting class.  These are the samples of what she teaches.  You actually make your own composition using floral print fabric- so no 2 are alike!

Some of Mary's fluorescent thread collection.  I have GOT to get some of these!

My piece as of the end of class.  It's only pinned to the stretcher, since I'm thinking it might need some greens and maybe some beads in those open areas.














A small thing you can do to make a difference to the planet is to recycle those tubes from your toilet paper!  Add it up some time to see how many you are throwing away.  Just toss them in with the cardboard and cereal boxes.  ( NOT in the abitibi paper bins!)

I am grateful for:
The weeds in the garden, which allow me to be in my happy place, watch birds using the water dishes I have set out for them, and enjoying the summer mornings before the sun gets so hot!
A really good book I don't want to put down.
A big job behind me!
Getting away for a day to play with friends.
28 more days until I see Guy!

Moving outside for the season!

 This is my front porch- my outdoor living room in the summer.  The only time it's not  wonderful out there is late in the afternoon when the sun is shining directly in your eyes.  That's usually the time I'm cooking anyway.

 This is along the walkway to my back door and the deck.  I need more old shoes if you have some.  :-)

 Look who I found near the perennial bed out back!  If she hadn't set up a ruckus when I walked by, I'd have missed it.

 I couldn't see how many eggs without sticking the camera back in there.

 Even Mr Bunny is happy to be outside enjoying the fresh air!

 Meanwhile, here's what I've been working on in the studio- which is a complete mess these days.

Pieces for the May calendar quilt.  I cut back the number of ants.

 A scrappy donation quilt.  I love this pattern, Romantic Rosy by Kaffe Fassett in his book Quilt Road.  The nine patches use  scrap therapy size squares!!!

 At the ArtCGirlz meeting last week, Sarah Terry showed us some beading techniques. 

I've been practicing feathers, inspired by the book "Dream Feathers", on this scrap quilt- also intended for donation.










Thinking Green this time takes me to the garden. Often when I'm working out there, I find worms and larva and other yucky looking creatures- like the little green worms who ate all the leaves off my Columbine a few years back.  Before I spray them with pesticide, I try to find out what kind of creature they are.  That pesky little green worm might become a rare butterfly if you don't kill it.  So take a few minutes to learn about the creatures you share the world with before you exterminate them!

I am grateful for:
Magnets and arnica
the chance to help a friend in need
sharing a private joke with a friend
gentle breezes and warm sunshine
Tiny newborn kittens

Caught in a time warp!

Sunrise on a foggy morning, May 3

I guess I stepped into a wormhole or something because I didn't realize it had been two weeks since I last posted!  My brain has been turned off lately, though.
 It finally feels like actual Spring here.  Not too hot, but nice enough to be outside.  I have spent enough time in the gardens the last few days that I'm sore, my hands are all scratched up and at least one of my beds looks like a garden rather than a spot we didn't mow.

Taking a short rest before continuing the journey.

We enjoyed being on the path of the migration of Red Admiral butterflies last week.  I have never seen anything like it!  They were everywhere.  The yard was alive with them- every flower and branch.  Sadly, there were hundreds of them killed along the roads, too. 

Jack (in the pulpit) in (one block) Wonderland

Since I'm so far behind, I can show more sewing stuff.  Good thing, too, because it has been days since I've been in the sewing room. I'm starting to get the shakes! 

 I got the borders on the one block wonder I have been working on with a fabric Jane's "Sunshine and Shadows" collection. I would really like to have this finished for the show in October!  I need more practice with the quilting design I want to use first, though.

 I got the May calendar quilt finished.  Not looking forward to doing ants on the next one.  Not that I dislike ants, but the satin stitching is going to be a killer!

 I'm trying to figure out how to finish this piece from the mosaic "workshop" Kathi led at an ArtCGirlz meeting last year.    I wanted to make a sort of larger sunset behind the part with the trees.  But I didn't have much of that same fabric to work with. (the bit sticking out the sides is part of the strip set I haven't cut up yet.  I found some neat batiks to play with, so the whole thing may look different next time you see it.

I tried some curvy piecing after seeing it on Kathryn Schmidt's blog last week.  I bet she teaches a great way to do it easier than what I did, but it came out ok and was kind of fun!









My green tip this week is to remind you that how you drive, as much as the car you drive, affects the fuel efficiency of your car.  I am a lead foot, so I have to remind myself it's not really important how fast you get up the hill.  You save gas by letting your speed decrease a bit rather than accelerating up those hills.  There are other things you (and I!) can do.  A few of them are here!

I am grateful for:
The beauty of a sand mandala I was able to witness last week
Meditation
A very understanding and supportive boss
An exciting baseball game!(which I always thought was an oxymoron)
A mild sunburn- to remind me to bring sunscreen

Nothing New to Report

Very Vibrant Violet

I had a fairly busy week.  Sewing time was limited.  Plus I wasn't really focused on things ( as I mentioned last week.)  I laid out some scrappy blocks, but didn't get them assembled.  I cut some borders, but didn't get them sewn on.  I did some "therapy sewing" with strips from my scrap bag, but don't have enough to do anything with yet- and need to figure out what I'm doing with them!  So this little piece is my only accomplishment.  It was started some time last year in a meeting of the "ArtCGirlz".  It uses Susan Carlson's "cut loose" collage technique.  I didn't know what I wanted to do with it, but finally decided I'd just layer, quilt and bind.  Simple, done and off the design wall.  I couched a thread with sparkles around the edges, then used some glitter as "pollen" in the center.  It's a fun technique I will use again.  Not sure how yet.  Stay tuned.



This is what I woke up to the morning.  (shaking my head) Eighty degrees in mid March and a "blizzard" in late April.  Maybe Mother Nature is suffering mood swings???

My poor crab apple- it was just starting to bloom!

Tulips and bleeding heart

Creeping Phlox

At any rate, I'd rather be pulling weeds like I was last week!













For a neat green tip, look at how to reuse a cd spindle here!  Re using something that would end up in the landfill is one of the simplest things we can all do!  Yes, eventually it will get thrown out.  But think of the number of items that will NOT go in the trash if you reuse one thing many times!

I am grateful for:
Guild meetings
Laughing until my ribs hurt
Salad for dinner
Saturday movie night
Music, and finding the right music for the right mood!

An odd feeling!

 So here it is the middle of April and I have been out working in the gardens today!  Not a normal thing this time of year.  And even if it's nice enough to go out to the gardens, the soil is so wet I can't do much.  Today it's almost too dry to work in some spots!
Isn't Als' Bridal Veil Spirea pretty?  (It's Al's because I hate this type due to the wild way they grow, but he loves them and found them on sale....)

The creeping thyme is always a favorite.  Not sure why the lavender one is dominant.  The pink one has disappeared.
Behind it are some snapdragons that survived the winter- another oddity of this year's weather.

 I did indeed finish the "Liberated" project last week.  This is what it looks like laid flat. 

 This is the little shelf unit in the studio it was made to camouflage when there are guests.

Isn't this better?
I'm trying to figure out how to enter it in the October quilt show.  I'd have to bring the shelves, too!



I find myself in an odd place at the moment.  Plenty of UFO's to be attended in the hope of having things to enter in the show, but nothing that I'm ready to work on.  One needs a border, another needs me to learn a technique before I quilt it, another requires moving the table out of the dining room so I can layer it!  I'm working on 3 or 4 scrap quilts all of which are in varying stages of construction.  So I have either too much to do or nothing to do depending on how I looked at it.

  I decided to work on the May calendar quilt ahead of schedule just to get it out of the way. I enjoy these little quilts once they are done and hanging on the wall.  But there are times the "zen" of machine applique eludes me and I am just plain bored with that part of the process!

I took a break from the beads on the rule breaking quilt long enough to make myself this pretty little bracelet.  I saw it at "Let's Bead" in East Rochester, but found the pattern online.




It's almost Earth Day.  There are lots of activities during the week in many places.   I missed the e-waste collection this year already.  So I'll have to find a place for disposing safely of the bits and pieces I had saved for it.  Just a reminder- you don't have to do it on a special day.  Just do your best to take care of our planet!  If possible, keep it out of the landfill!

I am grateful for:
BFF time
Getting answers to help me relax.
Eating on the screen porch.
Having the nature channel in my back yard.
When someone else knows why I'm laughing.

Weekend update

I was the lucky winner of a pattern and fabric kit from Jane Sassaman's blog a couple of weeks ago.  The prize was delivered last week.  Since I'm a pre-washer, the fabrics went right into the washer.  Liza found them fresh from the dryer.  Cats seem to have evolved a special sense so they know when there is fabric or a quilt they haven't slept on yet in the house, don't you think?

I decided the "Rule Breaking" quilt did indeed need beads.  So I've been playing with that a lot of evenings this week.
I add a little then look at it and say

 Maybe a little of this,

then look again and say Now it needs....

 

 

Now that I've gotten started, I'm not sure I'll know when to stop! One friend from the Guild said if the quilt is too heavy to lift, I'm done!

I am finally quilting the last 2 sections of the "Liberated" project.  (Are you sick of this project??? I know I am ready to be done with it!)
Leah was talking about layering and basting using elastic a while back.  I decided to give it a whirl.  This long skinny piece wasn't the best first thing to try it on, but I can see where it will save wasting the masking tape once I get more elastic!









If you look closely you can see the pin securing tools my friend Dodie devised. (not sure what name she decided on.)  I've looked at "pinmoors", but am too cheap to pay those prices.  Dodie came up with the idea of cutting up the thick craft foam in the kids' crafts section of Michael's and JoAnn's instead!  Works like a dream!






I am leading an activity for the ArtCGirlz tomorrow evening.  As part of that, I made a color wheel (sort of) out of scrap therapy squares.  I may sew them together and use them as a reference for future projects!

Thinking Green this time, I want you to ask the fishermen in your life to please be careful of where they leave their fishing line and other fishing gear when they go out on the lakes to enjoy their hobby this time of year.

I am grateful for:
The patience it took to get blogger to put my pictures where I wanted them. :-)
Taking the first step in getting to visit Guy this summer.
All the useful information one can find on the internet.
One week of no meds and no pain!
A more gentle change of seasons.